NTL Digital - Picture quality deteriorated..
 

Recently we had one of the NTL chaps round to extend the internal cable-length to the NTL box due to some reworking of the living room / repositioning. He basically cut the cable that came from the outside wall box as it came *into* the house and appended a connector and then brought in (what he said) was not quite the same †œold fashioned (thicker.. stronger)â₠¬Â� cable currently in use, but the type he had on his van.. it seemed a lot less thicker and much more bendable. †“ Job done, he left.. but then the more I looked at the picture the more I felt that the quality had deteriorated, with BBC1 / 2 in particular looking decidedly blocky and grainy in comparison to before.

I wasnââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t too sure whether or not he had made the connection properly or used some sub-standard cable so got in touch with CS who in-turn got another guy to come out a few days later. He in turn said he had some †˜differentâ ۉâ₠¬Ã…¾Ã‚¢ cable to the one that the previous guy had used and rigged that up, but this time adding one of the small †˜silverÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¢ÃƒÆ ’¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€Å ¾Ã‚¢ boxes (that the previous guy had taken) at the junction point near the entry point at the wall.. job done again.

I still wasnââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t happy with the digital picture quality .. so he went away and brought in one of those boxes to test the signal; said he would †˜boostâà ¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€Š¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¢ it some more but it wasnââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t really necessary as the levels came up as GREEN (acceptable).. he also added some kind of †˜widgetÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¢ÃƒÆ ’¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€Å ¾Ã‚¢ prior to the IN point of the NTL box, said there was nothing else that could be done and left.

X amount of weeks later I am still not that happy with the quality of the picture being received; its not as good as it used to be, but as this is relative to the customer its impossible to convey what it was like originally.

Any ideas.. ?

Re: NTL Digital - Picture quality deteriorated..
 

Ok
The cable that feeds the Set top box will not effect the picture quality as such. Thats the thing about a digital picture, if the signal is good the picture will be fine. If the signal is poor then you will either

A) Experience viewing problems pixelation/freezing of the picture and other problems

B) The STB wont work at all

The actual quality of the picture is not affected in the same way an analogue picture is (grainy, etc)

The only exception to what i have described above is IF you are watching the DIGITAL picture through an RF fly lead (that is a coax cable to your TV instead of a scart).
If you do have an RF fly lead i would have thought it hasnt been changed and would be surprised if this was the problem.

I bet (most respectfully) that you are simply scutinising the picture more since having the work done.

Re: NTL Digital - Picture quality deteriorated..
 

hi and :welcome: to the site Elysium , i reckon wheeliebin has nailed it on the head there , but at the end of the day you are paying the bill , if you are not happy ring them back up and ask for it to be sorted again :)

Re: NTL Digital - Picture quality deteriorated..
 

One of the main concerns is the amount of pixilation that does seems much more pronounced since the initial work was carried out..

You could also be right about scrutinising the picture more and †˜looking for problemsââ‚à ƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢Ãƒà ƒâ€šÃ‚¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¦ but I still feel that it was far less blocky originally.

Re: NTL Digital - Picture quality deteriorated..
 

it shouldnt be blocky at all :Yikes:

Re: NTL Digital - Picture quality deteriorated..
 

When you say blocky what do you mean exactly ?

Us engineers use the term to descibe a digital picture that is having problems. The effect is that whole "groups" of pixels turn into blocks making the picture look all "jumbled" up. It is very obvious and would ruin any watching enjoyment.

Is this what you mean ?

Re: NTL Digital - Picture quality deteriorated..
 

One easy example would be something with a relatively simple screen sequence such as the World Snooker that has been on BBC recently. There seems to be two standard camera shots used; †œzoomed out" and †œclose-upââ‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ÂÂ� to describe the play.. with the †œzoomed outââ‚Âà ‚¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ÂÂ� camera angle showing fairly heavy pixilation (mosaic type blocks) surrounding the snooker ball(s)...

Its more noticeable depending whats happening on-screen .. if the screen is fairly busy with colours, motion etc.. then its more harder to see the problems; but in the quieter times when not a lot is happening you do get to notice it quite easily.

Something else that springs to mind (purely because its noticeable) is the title-sequence to EastEnders; often showing fairly large amounts of blocks/artefacts..

Soccer-AM (the red sofa) is amazingly blocky.. looking at ITV1 now 23:11 (The Premiership) the pitch looks horrendous .. i.e very little detail to the green with noticeable blocks.